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New Asus ZenBook Pro could be a real beast with GeForce GTX 1060 graphics

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Asus Zenbook UX330 review
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
With Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 right around the corner, we’re seeing a number of rumors and tons of leaked information about all kinds of mobile products. While MWC primarily focuses on smartphones, it also covers other mobile devices including wearables and notebook PCs.

A number of companies are expected to introduce new notebooks at MWC 2017 that didn’t quite make the cut at CES 2017, and some information has leaked indicating that Asus is one of those firms. Specifically, it looks like a new Asus ZenBook Pro appears to be on the way, as Notebookitalia reports.

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Notebookitalia often gains access to such early information, and if this particular intel is correct, then Asus plans to introduce a significant update to the ZenBook Pro line that it last updated in 2015. The new machine’s model, according to the leak, will be the Asus ZenBook Pro UX550, and it will represent a strong option for power users looking for a large-screen notebook to compete with machines like Dell’s XPS 15.

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The ZenBook Pro is essentially the opposite of the diminutive Asus ZenBook 3, with what sounds like the same 15.6-inch 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160) display as the current ZenBook Pro. That would translate into very good color space support at 72 percent NTSC, 74 percent AdobeRGB, and 100 percent sRGB. In addition, Asus appears to be jumping on the thin-bezel bandwagon with extremely thin bezels along the two sides and thinner bezels at top and bottom — and if the leaked image is accurate, the machine will retain the webcam at the top of the display where it belongs.

Perhaps most significant is the suggestion that Asus will be replacing the current machine’s Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M GPU with a GTX 1060, which would make the ZenBook Pro far more powerful than other 15.6-inch productivity machines, and competitive with dedicated gaming notebooks. According to Notebookitalia, the ZenBook Pro would, in fact, be the thinnest notebook to offer the GTX 1060. The new machine will use quad-core seventh-generation Intel Core H processors.

If Notebookitalia is correct, we don’t have too much longer to wait for official confirmation. We’ll soon find out if Asus will be introducing a powerful new machine that could place it near the top of the heap of productivity notebooks.

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